This Week in the NHL

The Wild blew a 3-1 lead with a little over 4 minutes to go to lose in OT to Buffalo on Thursday night.



The only reason I show these highlights is because Rick Jeanneret is hands down, the best announcer in the NHL and even though the Derek Roy scores the game winner, it's an absolute joy to listen to his exuberance.

So the Wild are 4-0-0-1 and I am beyond frustrated with this squad and their management. Without going into a full blown rant, I need to voice my frustration by the absolute paucity of scoring chances. In the last two games I can't remember seeing one legitimate scoring chance. All of the goals (three in two games) were goals by M&G'ers (muck & grinders), unless you count Ryan Miller being rushed into shooting it in his own goal as a finesse goal. Jacques, ya gotta loosen up the trap and allow the boys to wheel & deal rather than toss it in.

At the beginning of the pre-season, I stated that I had some bad feelings about letting Gaby on the ice without a new contract. Unfortunately, that was too prophetic because Gaby has now had his third annual October "lower body injury" which makes it impossible to move him. Mike Russo reported that Bob Gainey and Montreal have shown interest and would possibly consider offering Chris Higgens and Ryan McDonaugh, the kid from Cretin. That's all fine and good, but there's a gap of about 5 million in cap space, so that deal is going nowhere.

Every day that Gaby remains with the team means less and less value for him. This will get uglier before it gets resolved. Read more of Russo for more info - if you can stomach it.



Poor Manny Legace. He trips on Sarah Palin's carpet before the game and strains his hip flexor. Apparently her fifteen minutes of fame aren't up.



Speaking of ugly, how about the Flyers coming into the Rock last night and throwing six past Marty? Brutal. Not to mention that the boys scored three of their own in the first period. Scary - although Brent Sutter probably saw that and told the boys that only Parise and Elias were allowed cross the blue line in the second and third periods. To make matters worse, it was Philly's first win of the season. And to make matters even more worse, it was Philly.

I love defence as much as anyone, but the only way you score goals in this league is if you're around the net. How is it possible to backcheck when you are constantly in the neutral zone?

Captain Langenbrunner left the game with a "lower body injury" and didn't return. He's going to make the bus trip to Philly tonight and see how he plays. That's cool - they take the bus on "local" road trips. I wonder if there's beer on the bus. I hope Rolston doesn't bring his guitar and lead the team in Beetles tunes.